Driver who killed Coventry boxer Adeel Gul jailed for six years - The Coventry Observer

Driver who killed Coventry boxer Adeel Gul jailed for six years

Coventry Editorial 14th Feb, 2020   0

A DRIVER who was racing another car when he killed a leading light in Coventry’s boxing community as he was crossing the road has been jailed for six years.

Orlando Bundy had denied causing the death of Adeel Gul, who ran the AG Boxing Gym in Bodmin Road, Coventry, in October 2018 by dangerous driving.

But it took a jury at Warwick Crown Court less than an hour to find him guilty – and following an adjournment Bundy (22) of Trentham Road, Hillfields, Coventry, was jailed and was banned from driving for eight years.

During the trial prosecutor Patrick Sullivan had told the jury: “At just before 8pm on Sunday the 7th of October 2018 Adeel Gul stepped out to cross the road near his home.




“They were his last steps. He was struck by a VW Golf being driven by Mr Bundy.”

Following the high-speed impact, which left the front of his car damaged, Bundy drove from the scene leaving Mr Gul lying in the road where other people stopped and tried to help him.


Despite their efforts and those of paramedics, Mr Gul, who was well-known in Coventry boxing circles, died at the scene.

Mr Sullivan said it was not disputed Bundy was driving a car which struck Mr Gul, whose death attracted many tributes including one from former World heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

He explained that the tragic collision took place as Mr Gul was crossing Allesley Old Road, on his way back to his home, near to the junction with Duke Street.

Footage from a CCTV camera at the Bethel Church in Spon End showed that as he passed there on his way away from the ring road, Bundy was doing more than 50mph.

And a camera at the Four Provinces pub, just 94 metres from the point where Mr Gul was struck, led to his speed as he passed the pub being calculated at 59mph.

At the time he was ‘in pursuit of another car travelling even faster, at 79mph,’ said Mr Sullivan.

The faster car passed close to Mr Gul as he was crossing the road – but he was struck by the Golf which was doing 41-50mph at the moment of impact.

Bundy callously kept going and dumped the damaged car on the north-east side of the city with a tarpaulin over it, but handed himself in a couple of days later.

Giving evidence, Bundy said he going to pick up a friend from Tile Hill to drive him to university in Birmingham when a car overtook him at speed and then tried to merge back in.

Bundy, who had other people with him in the car, which he had borrowed, said he then saw ‘a guy with a hoodie up like he was crossing the road, and he starts running.’

He claimed Mr Gul was struck by the faster car, thrown into the air and landed on the bonnet of the Golf as he tried to avoid him, and that he had then panicked.

At the resumed hearing Paul Pryor, defending, said: “I accept driving from the scene is an aggravating feature. However, he did hand himself in to the police two days later and accepted he was driving at the time.

“He knows what’s going to happen to him. He has impressive references, and he will lose his employment as a result of the inevitable sentence Your Honour will pass.”

Jailing Bundy, Judge Anthony Potter said: “It is a tragic fact that in sentencing you there is nothing I can properly do that will make right the wrong you did to the family of Adeel Gul.

“I sentence you for causing the death of Adeel Gul just metres from his home. Only you know whether it was access to a high-performance car or being with your friends that led to you showing off, which I am satisfied you were.

“It was you who travelled at excessive speed off the ring road and tailgated [a witness] such that she thought here was going to be a collision with her car.

“Another person noticed you and another car travelling at speed. He said he had never seen two cars driving so dangerously on that stretch of road, and he thought it was inevitable you were going to cause a crash.

“Only you know whether you knew the occupant of that other car or whether it was coincidence that you came together, but rather than turning to Tile Hill, when that car overtook you, you pursued it through a red light.

“When you were next captured on CCTV your car was travelling at just one mile an hour shy of 60, trying to match the other car which was going in excess of the motorway speed limit.

“I am quite satisfied from the damage to your car that it was on the wrong side of the road when it drove into Mr Gul. He was only 27 years of age, and he had lived a constructive life.

“You knew you had driven at speed into another human being, and that he was in the road, and you did not stop to help him. Your only thought was for yourself.

“You deposited the car, covered by a tarpaulin, on a car park behind flats in a different part of the city. This was a calculated, cold-hearted act.

“The car was found, and I am quite satisfied you went to the police not out of any sense of remorse, but because your link to the vehicle would be quickly discovered, and the account you gave to the police was a tissue of lies.”

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